Your personal brand is an important aspect to take some time to think about and discover, especially as you consider a career change, job move, or entrepreneurship. Refer to these simple areas below to begin defining your personal brand:

What’s unique about you?

Who you are will distinguish your personal brand. It’s simple, you are your brand! So this is an easy exercise. The key is to figure out how people see you, what are your passions, and what are you good at? Take a minute to discover who you are and things you’re most proud of. I suggest doing this exercise in a timeline format where you list as far back as you can remember significant events in your life. What are the things that have defined you? Take a look at the words you use, areas of consistency and things that make you proud. Pull out these themes that run through your life, keywords and areas that define you. This is the start of determining your personal brand.

Who’s your target?

Who do you want to network and connect with? Whether you’re starting a new career, looking for a new job, or starting a business you need to understand who needs to know you. Get some clarity around who you’re talking to, and with this clarity you can then begin to craft your message more clearly. Think about the age, gender, job title and location of the person you want to introduce yourself to. What are their hobbies, how do they spend their free time, what websites to they visit or TV shows they may watch? Also get clear around what kind of industries you want to work in, which companies and what value you can add.

Get started

Once you have a clear understanding who you are, your strengths, and weaknesses and you’ve defined your target you can begin crafting your personal branding message. How do you present yourself make sure you specify how you plan to help your target customer and what value you’ll bring? And, once you have your brand message, then determine how you plan to push it out in the marketplace. What kind of communications will you use and how often? Think about your strategy via social media, your website, and networking. Create a calendar and get out there and start marketing your brand!

For help with personal brand tactics and initiatives seek out West Loop Marketing – we help small businesses and entrepreneurs define their brand messaging and push it out into the marketplace to drive sales and repeat customers.